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There is a Well on 229In April 2014 Dennis Weal gave up his plot 229 due to old age. He told Christina Fox that his father had rented this plot since 1946. He said they had dug a well and had a pump inside their shed and that they put the shed up around the pump because people kept breaking the handle.
I spoke to "Vic" who had been the maintenance man for the allotment for around 30 years and he told me that he installed the mains water in the allotment in the mid 1990's. He said that wells would regularly run dry and plot holders with wells would have to wait until the water level returned to use them again.

I have always been interested in history whatever the topic and these days my attention is on allotments and vegetable growing. During my history research on the Northfields allotment i found a good quality aerial photograph of the allotments taken in 1945. I also noticed on that image that 50% of Lammas park had been turned into allotments.

I had heard from some plot holders that the Hawthorn bushes that surround the Northfield allotments were protected. Vic the former maintenance guy told me recently that when he was cutting the hedge years ago a man from the council stopped him and told him it was protected.

So, this was day two of the Radbourne Walk enhancement plan. Simon had planned another wildflower meadow - this time at the Occupation Road end of the path. We also had plans to start the loggery. We know we have Stag-horn beetles on the allotments because one of our plot holders found their larvae in his compost bin.

On Saturday morning (1st February) a group of Northfield allotment plot holders and local residents got together to put a plan into action. Luck was with them because the sun shone - not a drop of rain fell all morning.

Last night thirty plot holders turned up for the inaugural AGM of the Ealing Dean Allotment Society. We did a bit of tweaking to the proposed constitution and then we took a vote. Everyone was in favour of the new constitution - no one voted against and there were no abstentions.

I have a favourite TV programme - it's called DIY SOS. They help people who have become overwhelmed with the task of extending their home. Some poor soul works every weekend, every evening, every spare moment - but the building work never seems to be finished. Then maybe illness slows them down and it all grinds to a halt. At DIY SOS they bring expertise - but importantly they throw a lot of people at the problem.